"Chicago"

Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

“Murder, greed, corruption, exploitation, adultery and treachery…all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts“. That's the introduction to the International award winning musical which has returned to the Royal Centre this week.

Roxie Hart (Janette Manrara) is cheating on her wimpy husband Amos (Joshua Lloyd) with hunky Fred Casely (Josh Crowther) and ends up shooting him dead. She is taken to prison where she meets Velma Kelly (Djalenga Scott), the current Queen of the women's prison. Roxie is taken under Matron "Mama" Morton's wing, (Brenda Edwards). Both Velma and Roxie escape the hangman's noose thanks to smooth talking lawyer, Billy Flynn (Dan Morton).

Janette Manrara looked to be having great fun as Roxie. She played with the character and toyed with it as a kitten would toy with a ball of wool. Her dance background is vital to a show like this and her joy of dance is so evident in this show.

Joshua Lloyd succeeded in getting the audience on his side as Amos, especially after his brilliant performance of "Mr Cellophane". Very clever costume wise dressing Amos all in grey. It has the same effect as when Spitting Image gave John Major when their puppet was completely grey, but Joshua is anything but grey, dull and boring and has a wonderful voice, belying his character's given blandness.

Josh Crowther pumped up his pecs and brought the arrogance as Fred Casely. If anyone can remember the animated kids show "Johnny Bravo", this is who this version of Casely reminded me of. Great over the top fun from Josh.

Djalenga Scott as Velma was a force to be reckoned with on stage as the prisoner who was toppled from the top of the pile by Roxie. I last saw Djalenga play Velma back in 2021 and she is a triple threat with her singing, dancing - love those high kicks - and her acting. What a fabulous pair Janette and Djalenga make. They glitter more than the backdrops they dance in front of.

Brenda Edwards has one of those voices that is full of soul, and the gospel/blues tinges that she adds to her songs like "When You're Good To Mama" gives you the tingles. Well, they did me.

Dan Morton I last saw three years ago playing Phil Davis in "White Christmas" alongside Jay McGuinness. Dan has a list of musical theatre successes as long as his arm, having been in stage musicals since 2006, and this vast experience shows in the singing and dancing stakes. The smugness as being the "go to lawyer" is mirrored by the big song and dance numbers like "All I Care About Is Love" and "Razzle Dazzle". Dan brings the smooth to Billy Flynn's character.

One other role which was played excellently was that of Mary Sunshine (Jordan Lee Davis), the news reporter with a heart of gold, who has a bit of a crush on Flynn. Mary's wonderfully operatic voice ripped through the Royal Concert Hall. Jordan plays this part with hidden depth, and with a big range vocally!

The cast is completed by Bethany Adamson, Robin Kent, Victoria Anderson, Josh Crowther, Joe Dale, Jessica Keable,  Annabelle Laing, Jacob McLay Reid,  George Olney, Oliver Ramsdale, Elly Shaw, Jonathan Milton, Lucy-Anne Stacey, Matthew Sweet. Aaron Jenkins and Ria Tanaka.

This musical is sassy, slick, seductive, saucy but most of very, very sexy. This is due to the incredibly lithe male and female dancers who, literally bend over backwards to entertain! It also has a lot to do with Bob Fosse's trademark choreography, which was at the core of this musical.

If the laundry bill is based on the amount of cloth that is washed, then the dancer's bill would not be a great deal, and the material there is, is stretched very tight! You get the picture?

The live band were A-MA-ZING. Led by Neil MacDonald. They were all part of the show and they created a lot of the fun, especially at the start of Act 2 and the finale with their crazy routines and "messing about". Great entertainment and a cracking, swinging sound.

The show is laced with memorable songs such as "Cell Block Tango", which was a sight for this old man's eyes, there were legs everywhere! "All That Jazz", "Razzle Dazzle", "Roxie", the wonderful "Mr Cellophane", the clever vocals of "They Both Reached For The Gun".

If you've only seen the film, starring Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger, the musical has even more musical numbers in. It's sung through most of the time, so there are lots of music to take in and enjoy. Songs like "When Velma Takes The Stand", "Me And My Baby", "My Own Best Friend" and "A Little Bit Of Good" among them.

The original Direction and choreography is kept but in both cases, if you've seen previous productions, you may notice some additions, especially in the choreography side. 

Gary Chryst has recreated the original choreography and I think added even more to the mix. There are some wonderfully glamorous dance routines, many of which would not have looked out of place in any of the Busby Berkeley Hollywood classics, The wonderful feather scene to "All I Care About" is one that springs to mind as is the beefed up, and even sexier "They Both Reached For The Gun".

Anyone who has seen the stage version of the musical will know that the hair, wigs, costumes and make up bring an extra touch of pzazz and sizzle to a show like this.

What you may, or may not notice, is that there is no set, as such, and most of the time the cast sit down the side of where the orchestra are positioned. Props are brought on and off, and the reason why I said that you may not notice the lack of set, is because the action, the dancing and the breakneck pace of this show does not give you time to notice anything apart from the actors and dancers right in front of your eyes. Let's face it, you don't need a set when a musical is as entertaining as this one, plus who'd be looking at the set when there are scantily clad dancers gyrating everywhere?

"Chicago" is based on the real life events of 1920's nightclub singer Roxie Hart. This is one classy and sexy show with some unforgettable musical numbers and energetic choreography as well as some brilliant costumes, then this is the one to see this week.

"Chicago" is on at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall until Saturday 12 April.